Deciphering the UBS Recruiting Deal

When UBS released its new recruitment package last December, there was plenty of confusion about how lucrative it really was.

While Morgan Stanley Smith Barney [MS] was touted as having a 330% deal, because the deal was capped at that level, UBS’s [UBS] "no-cap" deal was harder to label.

However, as the details of the plan emerge, we have a step-by-step guide to the deal that is being offered by UBS to first and second quintile brokers:

UBS is offering 130% cash upfront (versus 140% at MSSB and Merrill Lynch [BAC].) Then, during the first year, an advisor is eligible for four asset-based bonuses paid quarterly: Bonus One: 55 basis points on total assets after three months, Bonus Two: 50 basis points on total assets after six months, Bonus Three: 45 basis points on total assets after nine months, or Bonus Four: 40 basis points on total assets after 12 months.

The first year bonuses are capped at 50% of the advisor’s trailing-12 production when he was recruited from his prior firm (his "recruited trailing-12.")

An advisor can then earn two more bonuses, provided that by the end of the first year they have brought over at least 50% of the assets they had at the time they were recruited from their prior firm.

The first bonus is paid at the end of the second year. If the advisor has met the asset hurdle and is producing at least 85% of his recruited trailing-12 production he will receive an additional 50% of his actual trailing-12 production at UBS that year.

Then, at the end of the third year, if the advisor is at 100% of his recruited trailing-12 production he will get another bonus equal to 50% of his actual UBS trailing-12 production for that year.

These two additional bonuses have no cap.

Bill Willis, a Los Angeles-based industry recruiter, says the deal is very comparable to those offered by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and Merrill Lynch. He describes the bonus hurdles as “challenging but obtainable.”

In particular, he says it may be tough for an advisor to reach 85% of his recruited trailing-12 production by the end of his second year to earn the additional bonus. “It’s on the high-end and everyone coming on board won’t get it,” he says. “But it’s still realistic…it’s not like they said you have to do 120% [of recruited trailing-12] by the end of year two.”

Paula Polito, UBS Wealth Management America’s new marketing chief and member of CEO Bob McCann’s “renewal team” says the package was designed with one main goal in mind—growth. “We’re trying to bring people here that are going to grow, grow, grow. That’s our mantra. So the recruitment package is designed with that in mind,” she says. “The more they can bring in, the more business they can do while they’re here, the more successful they will be.”

Mindy Diamond, a Chester, N.J.-based industry recruiter, says the deal is interesting but advisors are still taking a “wait and see” approach with UBS. “There’s still a lot of changes and reorganization going on. That affects how advisors see the firm,” she says.